Side game · 2–4 players
How to play Arnies
Also called: Arnie · Arnold Palmer bet
Make par or better without ever touching the fairway off the tee. Named for Arnold Palmer, who made pars from places nobody else visited.
The rules
- An Arnie is par or better on a hole where your tee shot missed the fairway.
- The player who makes one collects a unit from every other player.
- More than one player can make an Arnie on the same hole; each is paid separately.
- Par 3s are usually excluded because there is no fairway to miss. Check what your group plays.
- Needs fairways tracked — the bet reads the FIR field, so without it there is nothing to score.
A worked example
Setup. $5 a unit, four players.
- B pulls the drive into the rough on a par 4.
- B chips back to the fairway, hits the green, and one-putts for par.
Result. That is an Arnie. B collects $5 from each of the other three, +$15.
This is exactly how Bagpipe Golf settles it: hole by hole, zero-sum, no arguing at the 19th.
Variations and house rules
- Some groups require the tee shot to be in a hazard or bunker, not merely the rough. The app scores any missed fairway.
- Others pay double for a birdie Arnie. Not in the app; settle that part by hand.
How it works in the app
- Turn on Track FIR/GIR/putts at round start, or the fairway field never appears.
- Add Arnies at setup with a unit value.
- Record the fairway miss and the score on each hole; the Arnie is detected from the pair.
Arnies FAQ
- Do par 3s count?
- Most groups say no, since there is no fairway in regulation to miss. Decide before the first tee — the app scores whatever the fairway field says.
- Why is nothing scoring?
- Almost always because FIR tracking is off. Arnies reads the fairway field, so the round has to be started with stats on.